A Tutorial in Play GAINING AN UNDERSTANDING OF TUTORIAL DESIGN IN ACTION-ADVENTURE AND ACTION-RPG GAMES NANNA KURTZMANN ELDRUP Interactive Digital Media Aalborg University Title Page Project title: A Tutorial in Play – Gaining an understanding of tutorial design in Action-Adventure and Action-RPG games. Number of characters: 99351 Number of standard pages: 41 Number of pages: 51 10th semester, Interactive Digital Media, Aalborg University Name: Nanna Kurtzmann Eldrup Student-number: 20125260 Supervisor: Claus Andreas Foss Rosenstand 1 Table of Contents Area of Interest ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Research Question .............................................................................................................................. 4 Research Design ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Work Question 1: What are exemplar game mechanic tutorial cases? ............................................. 4 Work Question 2: What is an in-game Tutorial? ................................................................................ 5 Work Question 3: How do Game Mechanics and gameplay relate in a tutorial? .............................. 5 Work Question 4: What are the characteristics of Action-Adventure game and Action-RPG tutorials? ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Contribution ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Game Mechanic tutorial cases ................................................................................................................ 7 Uncharted 2: Among thieves (Western action-adventure). ............................................................... 8 Shadow of the Colossus (Eastern Action-Adventure) ....................................................................... 13 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Western Action-RPG) ........................................................................... 17 Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix (Eastern Action-RPG) ........................................................................... 26 Comparison of Uncharted 2 and Shadow of the Colossus................................................................ 32 Comparison of Skyrim and Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix ................................................................... 33 Comparison of Action-Adventure and Action-RPG based on the previous comparisons................. 33 On in-game tutorials ............................................................................................................................. 35 On Gameplay and Game Mechanics in Tutorials .................................................................................. 39 Action-Adventure and Action-RPG characteristics in tutorials ............................................................. 43 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 47 References ............................................................................................................................................ 50 2 Area of Interest The area of interest is how game mechanic tutorials are used to create an in-game experience for a player and how they affect the gameplay. Game mechanic tutorials are usually placed in the beginning of a game and/or spread out throughout the game as the gameplay becomes more complex. The effectivity of this can affect the gameplay in different ways which is unique for certain genres. This report has a special emphasis is on tutorials of game mechanics in action-adventure games and action-RPGs, and how these can both upset and strengthen the games gameplay. What is it in these tutorials that are important for the experience, how is it achieved to keep the player engrossed in the gameplay and what happens when the experience is broken? Digital games have been part of my life for as long as I can remember, having had a fondness for the original PlayStation. I liked the Playstation because I could find bugs and glitches in games that I loved. This helped me understand how game worked as a system and how I could create my own ways of playing the game that was not intended. I was 15 when I decided I wanted to make games for a living, which later lead into a Bachelor’s degree in Medialogy at Aalborg University. Here I learned the technical aspects that go into making a game such as programming, 3D modelling, animation, designing systems, and user experience. My background in scientific studies has meant that I aim to find answers and explanations rather than only gaining an understanding like in my later humanitarian studies. After my Bachelor’s I decided to pursue a Master’s in interactive digital media, in which I completed projects regarding user experience and game design. It is also here that I, during my 9th semester, was chosen for the prestigious role of game designer at DADIU. My interest is based upon personal experiences from a previous game production completed during the 9th semester of Interactive Digital Media at DADIU (Danish Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment) and includes existing exemplar games. DADIU is a national program where students from different institutions are put into teams to develop games during an autumn semester. The teams reflect a professional production with each student having specific roles and areas of expertise such as, game director, game designer, sound designer, art director, artist, level designer, production manager and programmers. At DADIU I learned what matters when working on a project with many kinds of professionals and how to be flexible regarding expectations relating to the different professions. I also took some of my most important steps in becoming a game designer and learning what the work entails. It was also here that I got a real sense of how to communicate the designs to players of our game, as well as what goes into designing immersive gameplay. We struggled, however, with our tutorial and how we were supposed to tell the player effectively and clearly how to play and control the game. It 3 was then I realised that teaching a player how to play a game might seem easy at first but can be a challenging and difficult thing to do in practice. Lengthy tutorials can be off-putting and negatively affect the player experience. I read books and watched video lectures on game design, but it was unclear how I was exactly supposed to solve this problem. It turned out to be more a question of trial and error to find an optimal solution. I wondered if it is possible to create an enjoyable tutorial, in which the player’s experience is not broken, and the game’s mechanics help to support the game’s narrative. I studied the games I have played over time and thought - many games take vastly different approaches to tutorials. But what is it about these tutorials that work towards the player’s immersion, and what is it that breaks the in-game experience during such tutorials? I also thought about different design traditions used by different developers, mainly the divide and differences Western and Eastern. At first glance it seems significant that both groups have their own distinctive design identity that have both strengths and weaknesses, as well as an effect on the gameplay. Eastern games tend to be text heavy and contain complex mechanics, whereas Western games tend to be more simple and direct. Both cultures have positive and negative aspects which I will explore more deeply in this report. All in all it made me wonder; what is it, exactly, that makes western and eastern action adventure and action-RPG games different? Research Question How satisfying is the in-game experience of an exemplar game mechanic tutorial, in an Eastern and Western single-player Action-Adventure and Action-RPG game, with consideration to gameplay? The assumption is that an investigation of this research question can contribute to my plans to work as a professional game designer. Research Design To explore this research question, several work questions have been designed through an iterative process and problem-based learning. They are listed below and are limited to the single player perspective mentioned in the research question. I will also use examples from other games not included in the exemplar games list, to showcase unique game-mechanic cases that contribute to my understanding of game-design and tutorials. Work Question 1: What are exemplar game mechanic tutorial cases? Several games are used to explore this question and is chosen based on an analytical framework of a few selection criteria. I want to compare tutorial traditions from western and eastern developed games to find differences and strengths in both. I have therefore chosen one game from each genre and each region. Each game has been played and completed in its entirety by myself and I am using 4 my own experience and understanding of the chosen games to describe them based on my analytical framework. I want to focus on the single-player experience in each game - therefore I have chosen games that can be completed without an internet connection to avoid multiplayer aspects. The gameplay in multiplayer modes